Build Log: Constructing the Ultimate Computer Desk

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Top Shelf Trim

Good thing you're not in a garage.... What crappy weather we have this weekend... and the humidity is gonna suck.
It's been a doozy lately, but it's still nice and cool in the basement thankfully!

wicked build man, and your right in ottawa lol if i had the money/room for it, i'd buy one of of you, keep it up
Thanks, heh, you never know - keep me in mind! ;)

Man that is a darn nice computer desk you have there with a ton of man hours into it. I am going to attempt something like this someday when I get time to lay it all out. Because of my unique standing position I want to mount a monitor or 3 in a desk with some glass over it like at a hospital or similar. I just havent resea5rched it enough or have the right tools assembled yet. Keep us posted and love all the photos of the steps taken.
Good stuff, be sure to post a log if you go for it. Remember, you can do a lot with no tools - the planning really pays off in the long run.

It wouldn't be difficult to setup a desk in which the monitors are behind a sheet of glass, just use thick high quality plexi glass, and put it in front of the monitors, make sure to keep the back open for air flow, or come up with an air flow solution, you could use one those wall mounts to secure them so they dont tip, ever, and if you know how, you can wire up a button outside the contained area that can turn the screens on, or off.
you got it!

Glad to help. Love that cherry colour.
Thanks again, yes, I'm in love with the colour too ;)

Ok, so it's been a little while since an update eh?

I've been busy, sorry folks, life seems to speed up in the summertime!

As a peace offering, here are the kiddo's, at about 4 months old now!

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And, back to the desk!

I had a bunch of solid maple cut into more 1/4" strips so I could finish doing the trim on the top shelf and the cabinets.

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My trusty compound mitre saw - got it reconditioned at a bargain place for like 60 dollars, and it's been pretty reliable for a number of years now. It's loud as all heck though!

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And, my favorite part - clamping up!

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And, since there was nowhere to place clamps in between this area, I had to improvise with a small block of wood!

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Staining Stuff

After the trim was glued on and then sanded flush, I proceeded with the staining and poly

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Looks good, eh?

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I also finally decided to buckle down and build myself a quick rig to store all my clamps. Since I'm moving soon, it'll also make it easier to move them to the new place! Nice lap joints eh!!

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I proceeded to the cabinet drawers, where I finally sanded off the wood filler that's been attached for weeks (months?)

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Lined up the drawer faces, glued them on (Was going to screw them on after, from behind. Lol)

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And put a bit of weight on top..

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Walked away for a bit, and realized... maybe it was a bad idea to glue them on first! Uh oh!

I decided that it might actually be a lot easier to line up the drawer faces if I attached them AFTER I had attached the drawers to the drawer slides, to I ripped em off.

So, next on the list - staining the actual drawers!

Pre-stain on!

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Mmm, they look so good

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And, poly of course

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Done!

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And just so ya know, it really did basically take a month just to finish the top shelf and the drawers... more to come soon!
 
Drawer Face Staining

I can't wait to see the end result. Next, your cats are going to lay on top that desk! :lol:
Hehe, here's hoping they don't claw up my nice gloss finish!

Thanks patonb!

Love the color m8, can't wait to see it all done :) keep it up
Thanks MyGodAL3X!

With the drawers themselves all stained up, it was time to stain the drawer fronts!

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Since most of the back of the drawer fronts won't be visible, I decided that I could probably stain and poly both sides at once...

Pre stain!

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They look so nice like this... ahh, next project...

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Some staining time

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And some sweet, sweet gloss poly.

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Woops! One of the drawer faces slipped off the painting cones and picked up a whole whack of saw dust and wood chips... at least this will never be seen on the final project!

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Trimming the Cabinets

With the drawers and drawer faces all finished and ready for installation, it was time to turn to finishing up the two cabinets.

First up, finishing the piece that goes on the front of the left-hand cabinet.

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And, well, not a lot of writing today, as the rest of it should look pretty straightforward. I had to cut up a bunch of trim pieces, and somehow arrange the clamps to hold them in the right place. A few of the arrangements required some creative thinking, but in the end, I got the whole cabinet trimmed up over the course of a few days.

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Mmmm glue.

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Enjoy! We're getting close to the final assembly, yay!
 
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